According to statistics, more than 70% of the population of Russia are urban residents. The desire to move to the city from the countryside or change the regional center to the capital is visited by many. Reasons may vary, but more often you can hear: “there are more opportunities”, “better education”, “you can find a good job and decent earnings”, “it’s more comfortable to live”. The last argument is directly related to the characteristics of the urban environment.
Urban environment: which definition is correct?
To date, there are several, from household to scientific. Which is not surprising, because the urban environment is a whole complex of elements. And unlike natural systems, it has a number of specific features. The urban environment is all that creates the image of a settlement and fundamentally affects the lifestyle of its inhabitants. It depends on it in many respects how much a person will like to live specifically here.
If we take a scientific definition, then the urban environment is understood as a combination within the boundaries of a particular locality of the appropriate conditions created by nature and man and affecting the quality of life of its inhabitants. We can also say that this is a combination of economic, natural, technogenic, informational, social conditions prevailing in the city.
Main elements
The structure of the surrounding space is usually determined by the needs of residents. Among the priorities: safety, physiological parameters (air, noise, light), social (communicative). Thus, the urban environment is a number of key components:
- resources (land, water, air, climate);
- real estate objects;
- infrastructure;
- landscape variety;
- criminogenic situation;
- consumer market;
- social services.
The balance of these elements determines how much the locality will be in demand and competitive.
Comfortable living environment
Not every city is convenient for living. Many points are individual, for some, the presence of greenery and trees is important in the first place, for others, good roads. But in general, the rules by which a comfortable urban environment is formed are similar:
- decent level of public services (water supply, heating, electrification, garbage collection);
- balanced infrastructure (a combination of various types of ground and underground transport, an adequate level of traffic, the presence of large interchange hubs, meeting the needs of both motorists and pedestrians, good condition of roads, the presence of sidewalks and bike paths);
- Opportunities for unimpeded movement of various categories of citizens, including handicapped groups;
- competent zoning (one that avoids the daily “pendulum migration” of passengers, providing for the thoughtful organization of living space, not too high level of population density);
- adequate level of noise and informational “pollution”;
- the ability to meet the social, cultural, educational, recreational needs of citizens (a sufficient number of parks, recreation areas, objects of architecture and art, educational institutions, trade institutions, etc.).
The specifics of the environment
The “face” of a settlement can be both typical and carry signs of individuality. Therefore, a competent direction in the development of the modern urban environment is competent landscape modification. The reference point in this case is the formed territorial appearance. You can, for example, distinguish the following types of cities:
- with the established historical center;
- based on urban complexes of the Soviet era;
- consisting mainly of standard buildings;
- purposefully forming and developing the city center and residential areas.
Despite the rich experience of Western urbanists, the process of modernizing Russian cities does not always go smoothly. In the majority of settlements, there are: hard zoning (residential, business areas), typical quarterly design, non-observance of modern standards for housing construction and adjacent territories, growth in breadth due to sleeping areas on the outskirts.
City and ecology
During the formation of the urban environment, the maintenance of the necessary ecological balance remains an urgent problem. Ill-conceived development models lead to threats to the health of residents. Unfortunately, more than 15% of Russian cities belong to territories with adverse environmental conditions. Therefore, today the process of urban development should be based on:
- control over the use of natural resources;
- application of modern industrial technologies and cleaning systems;
- the prohibition of the disposal of toxic waste near settlements, forest park areas;
- rational and functional zoning;
- an established system for the removal, storage, disposal or recycling of household and municipal waste;
- the creation of additional green spaces, including those with a limited regime of use;
- environmental education and public awareness.
The negative impact on the environment has long ceased to be perceived as an inevitable companion of the development of civilization. The current level of technology development allows you to effectively combine fundamental urban construction and production with minimal impact on the environmental situation.
Intangible environment
The image of the place of residence is formed not only from architectural ensembles or transport branches. The urban environment is also the emotional perception of residents. According to experts, the environment has a significant impact on the psychological state of a person. Illiterate design of the urban environment leads to stress, apathy, and a decrease in emotional tone. In recent decades, there has even been a special discipline that studies these phenomena - psychogeography. To be psychologically comfortable, the urban environment must meet several requirements:
- aesthetics;
- outward diversity;
- a combination of novelty and tradition;
- the presence of landmarks;
- balance of light and noise background;
- security;
- predictability;
- harmonious architectural scale.
Services and leisure
The preservation and increase in the population of a particular city largely depends on the products and opportunities that it can offer its residents. The provision of a high-quality and wide range of services and leisure options contributes to the formation of a high rating of the village. These include:
- information infrastructure;
- retail space;
- cultural objects;
- hotel complexes;
- catering establishments;
- institutions providing social services;
- recreational areas;
- entertaining objects.
Urban Environment Programs
For the success of urbanization processes, a system-targeted approach is required. Therefore, special attention is now being paid to programs for the formation of a modern urban environment. To date, a number of projects have been launched.
At the very end of 2016, the federal program “Formation of a comfortable urban environment” began. Its main task is the improvement of settlements taking into account the opinions of residents. By 2020, it is planned to carry out 400 large-scale projects to improve the comfort of the urban environment, to train at least 2 thousand specialists. The program provides for:
- public involvement in the discussion of key events;
- adoption of new landscaping rules;
- optimization of landscaping, lighting, cleaning;
- equipment for sports and playgrounds;
- improvement of public spaces and objects (according to the results of surveys of residents);
- formation of a register of best practices.
Recently, the Smart City project was launched, aimed at optimizing infrastructure management by introducing modern digital technologies. Among the priority goals is to support the sustainable development of the urban environment and improve the quality of life through the digital transformation of the economic sector (smart technologies in the accounting for utilities).